


Bravest Thing I've Ever Seen

by symphie5493



Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: Gen, Hurt Kelly Severide, Medical Procedures, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-18 03:08:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28985370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/symphie5493/pseuds/symphie5493
Summary: Expansion of Severide's bone marrow donation scenes in 5x10.
Relationships: Stella Kidd/Kelly Severide
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	Bravest Thing I've Ever Seen

**Author's Note:**

> Expansion of Severide's bone marrow donation scenes in episode 5x10, the OR scene and the scene of him first coming out of surgery with Jeff.
> 
> Then a new scene of waking up with Stella by his side instead of the scene with Anna, because I just really had a hard time accepting that Kidd wouldn't have been there.
> 
> Any other injury scenes in Fire/PD/Med that you want to see expanded? Let me know. :)

“Hey guys, can you give us the room for a second?” Clarke asked the surgical team as he walked in, his hand behind Kelly’s back just in case.

Protocol dictated that the patient be wheeled into the OR on a stretcher, but when his friend had asked to walk in unassisted, Jeff decided to grant him this bit of dignity.

Kelly watched everyone slowly file out of the room and sighed as he reached the side of the bed. Clarke held out his arm to help Kelly sit.

“How do you need me?” Severide asked.

“Lay down on your stomach,” Jeff told him.

Kelly laid down and winced as the pressure in his lower back shifted. Clarke moved his gown to the side and laid an ice pack over his back.

“I’m good--” Kelly started to protest.

Clarke laid a hand on his shoulder and chuckled. “Cut the bullshit, Severide. Your body’s already been through a major trauma in the last 48 hours and we’re about to put it through hell. No need to start the procedure with more pain than necessary.”

Kelly nodded once and settled himself, stretching his shoulders out and bringing his hands to lay beside his head on either side. 

Jeff crouched down beside the bed, eye-level with his friend.

“Okay, man. Here’s the basics. I’m going to let them all come back in and they’re going to give you something to help you relax before we start. They’ll inject a local anesthetic, and it’ll numb your hip, but it doesn’t go deep enough to numb the bone, so it’s going to hurt like hell,” Clarke said seriously.

Kelly swallowed hard.

“I’ll insert the needle and we’ll have to pull out about a liter. The pressure is going to get worse the more we pull. We’re going to give you all of the pain meds we can, but it’s a balancing act. If we give you too much, you stop breathing. The whole thing will be over in ten minutes, but you’re going to be in for a really rough few days,” he explained.

Kelly nodded, digesting the information, and reached out to put a hand on Jeff’s shoulder.

“Thank you for making this happen, Clarke,” he said.

Clarke put his hand on Kelly’s and then shrugged it off, “Don’t thank me, yet. You ready?”

Kelly took a deep breath and brought his arm back to the table, settling himself and closing his eyes. Jeff took that as his answer and stood up, turning around to wave his hand and allow everyone back into the room.

As the rest of the procedure team went back to their positions, Kelly kept his eyes closed, concentrating on relaxing his body and tried to ignore the bustle of activity around him.

He felt someone open the back of his gown and remove the ice pack from his back. He felt the towels being laid over him, leaving an open space over his left hip. He felt someone take his left arm and he obliged, letting them manipulate his arm and connect his IV to a line of fluids.

“Just giving you something to help you relax, Lieutenant,” he heard someone say.

Instantly, he felt lighter. The sounds of the OR around him felt farther away and the dull pain in his lower back felt less invasive to his senses. 

Clarke put a hand on his shoulder and spoke to the person handling his IV, “Go ahead and start the pain meds.”

“I’m fine,” Severide finally spoke, opening his eyes.

Clarke squeezed Kelly’s shoulder, “It’s better if we can get ahead of it, man. Just trust me.” 

Severide sighed and resigned himself as Clarke moved into position behind him.

“BP 130 over 80, heartrate 93,” he heard someone say.

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, willing his heart rate and blood pressure to lower to normal. Whether it was anxiety or the pain, or both, he knew his vitals were already higher than his baseline.

He felt the familiar burn of the anesthetic being injected into his hip and trained his eyes on a spot on the wall beside him.

“All right, they’re done with the local. Last chance to back out, bud,” Clarke said from above him.

Kelly shook his head. “No, I’m good.”

The room seemed eerily silent and Kelly’s vision seemed to swim in front of him, pain medication pulsing through his system.

“Okay, make the stab incision,” Jeff’s superior told him. 

Severide felt almost nothing as his friend sliced his skin and for a moment let himself believe that the procedure wouldn’t be as bad as everyone had led him to think.

“Now insert the Jamshidi and twist to the right,” Jeff was instructed.

Kelly heard Clarke take a deep breath and hesitate for a moment before saying, “All right, here’s the fun part, buddy.”

Kelly set his jaw and took a deep breath, preparing himself for the pain to build.

Instead of building, the pain was like an explosion the second the needle hit his bone. Kelly hissed and turned his head, squeezing his eyes shut and burying his face as every muscle in his body tensed. Clarke pushed the needle further into his hip and Severide clenched his teeth, groaning, taking short breaths in between. He felt Clarke twist the large, hollow needle and moaned again into the pillow beneath him, tears stinging his eyes, trying to control himself. He panted and clenched his fists as his extremities began to shake.

The twisting stopped, and Clarke worked quickly, removing the device and attaching a syringe to the needle.

“Hang in there, bud,” Kelly heard Clarke say as he finally inhaled a full breath.

As Clarke pulled back on the syringe, the pressure in Kelly’s hip built quicker than he could adjust. His breathing hitched and he let out one bit of air at a time, grunting into the bed beneath him. Within seconds, the pain was out of his control and a loud, primal yell escaped him. The pain was overwhelming and he couldn’t remember how to breathe. He opened his eyes, his vision blurred, and he heard himself yell again before everything stopped, darkness fell over everything, and he lost consciousness. 

\---

Kelly couldn’t bring himself to open his eyes, but he knew it was over. He took shallow breaths as he continued to wake and his senses heightened. He grimaced as the throbbing from his hip travelled to every inch of his body with each and every heartbeat.

Clarke noticed the small change in his friend’s facial expression and breathing, and sighed.

“Try not to move,” he said quietly. “The Dilaudid’s probably wearing off, so just push this button when you need more pain meds.”

Severide gave a small, single nod, eyes still closed, the small movement causing a wave of nausea to wash over him.

“Strongest stuff we can give you, man. I’m sorry,” Clarke continued. “Here.”

He felt Clarke place the pain pump button in his right hand, closing his thumb over the trigger and pressing it for him.

“Just breathe,” Clarke said.

Kelly managed to take a full breath and swallow hard, willing himself back into sleep as another dose of medication attempted to dull the pain.

\---

The next time Kelly woke, he managed to open his eyes. Stella sat beside him, staring at him with worried eyes. 

“Hey…” she whispered.

Kelly swallowed hard and reached for her hand, the small movement setting every nerve in his body in fire. 

“Hey…” he managed to answer, feeling the nausea rise in his throat as soon as he opened his mouth.

Only then did he notice Clarke standing on his other side.

“Hey, man. How you feeling?” he asked.

Kelly took a deep breath and set his hands on either side of his hips, attempting to sit up straighter. A layer of sweat broke out over his face as the color drained and he darted his eyes left and right, searching for a basin.

Without saying anything, Clarke quickly grabbed a bag and held it under his chin as he leaned forward, crying out before dry heaving.

Stella rubbed his back softly, looking between him and Jeff.

Severide fell back onto the bed, squeezing his eyes shut and groaning, twisting his body slowly, trying to find relief.

“You okay?” Clarke asked.

“Good,” he said, catching his breath.

“Throbbing, dizzy, can’t eat, you don’t have to pretend for me, man…” Clark said softly.

“Might hurt a little,” Kelly choked, his breath catching in his throat and tears stinging his eyes.

He brought his knees up slightly, and the pain from his hip flashed through him like lightning, his extremities starting to shake.

Clarke immediately turned to pull a medication out of the cabinet behind him and started pulling the clear liquid into a syringe. Kelly groaned and squeezed his eyes shut, clenching his teeth as the uncontrollable shaking made his pain unbearable. 

Clarke injected the medication into his IV and put a hand on his shoulder, steadying him. Within moments, Kelly’s breathing slowed and the shaking stopped.

“Is he seizing?” Stella asked, concerned.

“No, it’s just one of the body’s ways of dealing with pain. I gave him a muscle relaxer, and something for the nausea. We’re giving him all the pain meds we can,” he said. “It’s just going to be a rough few days.”

Kelly listened to Clarke explain to Stella, knowing she was worried. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes again, hoping to calm her. He grinned at her and she took his hand, stroking it with her thumb.

“Is that any better? Rate your pain for me, Sev. One to ten,” Clarke asked, his hands on his hips.

“A hundred,” Kelly deadpanned, wiping his eyes and putting an arm over his face.

Stella frowned, rubbing his shoulder and looking to Clarke for reassurance. 

Clarke took a new cold pack from the table and snapped the activator inside, passing it back and forth between his hands a few times before patting Kelly’s arm, bringing it down off his face and motioning for him to move.

He slowly rolled toward Stella as Clarke slid the pack beneath his hip. Kelly squeezed his eyes shut and groaned, grabbing onto the side rail of the bed for support as he rolled back onto the pack.

“Twenty minutes,” he said, handing Stella a heat pack. “Then swap it for heat.”

Stella nodded, grateful for a concrete way to help Kelly.

Clarke made his way to the door, turned back, and paused, making eye contact with his friend.

“What you did in there, Kelly. Bravest thing I’ve ever seen…”


End file.
